Erbitux shows promise in battling lung cancer

ImClone Systems shares soar 20% on trial results

ValBrickates Kennedy

BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- ImClone Systems and partner Bristol-Myers Squibb said early Tuesday that a key clinical trial for their oncology drug Erbitux showed the drug helped patients with lung cancer live longer.

In a statement, the companies said that a Phase III clinical trial showed that patients with advanced lung cancer taking Erbitux in combination with the chemotherapy regimen cisplatin and vinorelbine had a higher overall survival rate than those taking just chemotherapy alone. The companies did not immediately say how much longer the patients lived.

Partners ImClone
IMCL, +6.11%
Bristol-Myers
BMY, +0.36%
and Merck KGaA are testing Erbitux for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, the most common type of the deadly disease. Erbitux is already approved to treat colorectal, head and neck cancers.

A spokeswoman for Merck KGaA, who ran the study, told MarketWatch that they will release the data on how much longer the patients lived at a major conference. They haven't decided at which conference the companies will present the information, she said.

A spokeswoman for Bristol-Myers reached by The Wall Street Journal also declined to comment further on the survivability data.

Shares of ImClone shot up 20% to $45.66 in morning trade, while Bristol-Myers shares rose 1.4% to $28.38. See full story.

Tuesday's news comes just about two months after the company announced that a Phase III clinical trial for Erbitux showed it was ineffective slowing down the growth of lung cancer tumors in patients taking a chemotherapy regimen of taxane and carboplatin.

Bristol-Myers co-markets Erbitux in North America, with Merck KGaA selling the product overseas. Erbitux is currently ImClone's only marketed product.

According to ImClone's Web site, Erbitux had 2006 global sales of $1.1 billion.

At least one European analyst on Tuesday said the study is further evidence that Erbitux has major growth potential.

"We are confident Erbitux will become an oncology blockbuster within a few years in the Merck territories alone and has the potential to become one of the top five to eight cancer drugs globally," said Alexandra Hauber, an analyst at Bear Stearns. A blockbuster drug is usually defined as one with more than $1 billion in annual sales.

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